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This Week's Featured Poems

 1      

Where The Water Lily’s Grow

The flowers in their spring
Beauty no longer in the eye
Beholden to none
Flowing in the water 

Our love lived there
Where the water Lilys grow
We walked down the river, together
Tangling feet in mud

The summer air
Young love pushing our persons
Only simply time itself
Denigrating our water Lilys

Leaving our walk
Bereft the stream
Dried bones
Are all I became

The place the water lies grow
Presses on for others
Abandoned is what I caused you
Listless is where I’m left

Take care,
Wherever your water Lilys grow
Make it there
Be happy for the both of us

Alone in dirt,
Touched only by leaves
Is where you may find
The mound of bones,
That once was me

Copyright © Zachary Cox | Year Posted 2024

Chasm

An empty echo bellows from within the depths of a chasm. Endless and cold, it moans an apathy that desecrates the sanctity of love and alters the signal of all feeling and emotion. It reaches and bites the heart, concealing from vision its true mission of destruction. Tightly wrapping itself around the soul, it plunges its deadly sting through its victim, cutting off the gentle flowing mixture of happiness, sincerity, laughter and devotion. Mindless faces speak a meaningless language. The lips seem to move in an endless array of contours as a lone silhouette vanishes with the last beam of light. Alone it stands as it silently waits for time to pass. Alone in these vast depths of indifference, there is no hope, no salvation from the inward conflict that evaporates the soul. Bow your head little sparrow. Weep the tears that none else can. Reveal the pain that none else will. Lift your eyes to a destiny. Take the future up in your tiny wings and bring it back to me. Together we can cry over the past and fly away. Darkness is the absence of light, yet you and I see. Within the chasm flickers a small candle. To you and I little sparrow, no freedom is too distant, no change too great. We persist with love where blind hatred dwells. Lingering within us is a hope, a dream and purpose that lifts the wind beneath our wings. We've tasted the bottom of the chasm. Together we can cry over the past and fly away..........

Copyright © Walter Williams | Year Posted 2012

To Emma

To Emma



Emma, my life is ruined because of you
You're the only one on my mind, 
I don't need anyone else, only you
You don't notice me, I don't exist for you
I miss you, I need you,
I'm giving up my life because of you
When I die, please burn a candle for me
It will be nice of you 
My soul always will remember you 


Copyright © Vilmos Zoltan Galyo | Year Posted 2024



Heart Versus Flesh

It’s tearing me apart
that you disregard my heart
but yearn for my flesh

Copyright © Valerie Staton | Year Posted 2015

The Lone Sentinel

The Lone Sentinel


                                  As I walk the beach
                                        a seagull
                                    a lone sentinel,
                                 announces my coming.
                                 His shrill cry beckoning,
                                   his comrades to fly.

                                      When I pass,
                                    they will return
                              as though I'd never passed
                                    that way before.

                              Covering my tracks with their
                                    thousand little feet.
                               And again that lone sentinel,
                                   Posted to guard against
                                         intruders.

Copyright © Tucker Carwile Jr | Year Posted 2012

Milestone

they say age is just a number.
it was-but now, it's not. 
it has become, an adversary. 
something to be avoided-at all cost. 
7, 8, 9, 10---these were friends i looked forward to meeting. later-
18, 19, 20, 21, these were  goals, i looked forward to, accomplishing. then-
27, 28, 29, 30-these were achievements i enjoyed, accomplishing. 
-now, there's 40. looming, smirking, menacing. 
arms crossed-fearful and stern just above the horizon. 
40-The Great Divide. 
YOuth-a distant memory, old age beckoning. 
WHoever said age is just a number, 
had not, yet-met-40.

Copyright © Trevor Houchen | Year Posted 2005

Gabriela Andersen- Schiess

Gabriela Andersen-Schiess was a long-distance runner
Who ran a marathon in the heat of a Californian Summer
It was the Los Angeles Olympics in nineteen eighty-four
You might remember it well and the crowd's thunderous roar.

It was the first women’s marathon that ever took place
Fifty women athletes took part in that twenty-six-mile race
America came first with Joan Benoit winning the gold
But Gabriela’s very inspiring story has often been told.

All the athletes lined up and the marshal fired the starting gun
The women’s inaugural Olympic marathon had now just begun
It was a beautiful summer day with temperatures starting to rise
But the heat and high humidity took many runners by surprise. 

Joan Benoit and others started running at incredible fast paces
Many runners struggled in the heat, it was etched on their faces
Some runners hope for a medal was now starting to diminish
But kept going hoping to complete it for an honourable finish.

Toward the end of the race the Coliseum stadium came into view
Six of the heat struck runners had given up unable to see it through
Gabriela needed hydration but had missed the last water station
The only thing she had left now was her spirit and determination.

Her mind was firmly focused on completing that gruelling race
But the intense heat had taken its toll slowing down her pace
She entered the vast stadium with just one lap to complete
The crowd saw her stagger in, and they were up on their feet.

She appeared punch drunk, and her legs started to give way
Concerned medics approached her but she waved them away
Her body was starting to shut down, but mentally she was fine
Gabriela was more determined than ever to cross that finish line.

Swaying to the left and to the right she was all over the track
But Gabriela kept focused she knew there was no turning back
Her body showed signs of fatigue, and she was badly dehydrated
But she managed to cross the finish line, and the crowd were elated.

Athletes from the world over were full of praise and admiration
For showing true Olympic spirit and her unwavering determination
Gabriela finished thirty seventh, but she had caused a sensation
And her never giving up attitude was for many a great inspiration.

Copyright © Tom Cunningham | Year Posted 2018

Fat Cats

I see the fact cats getting fatter
I see the poor folk getting weak 
I’m told that somewhere in the  bible
We’re told to turn the other cheek

I see the rich  man on a drug charge
He’s going get a second chance 
 jail a poor man who stole to feed his child
,judge say’s we got to take a stance

I see the politician on the Tv
Saying   he’s going to make it right
But once he’s got the vote
  he’s sitting on his boat    
Sipping  champagne thru  the night.

I see the preacher  all high & mighty
Saying we got to help  the poor
But  then you see his home
Is like the pleasure dome 
It’s got me wondering  for sure

I see  wars in other countries 
They  just don’t seem to make  no sense
The politicians lie, as the innocent die
And   survivors  live in  tents 

 I see the greed  of the few 
Out weighs the need s of the many 
Because  most of those  with all the gold
Wouldn’t part with even pennies 

Why don’t we  do something about this 
Why don’t we get up on the floor 
Why don’t we do something about it 
Lets   show  these  people  to the door

Copyright © Thomas Flood | Year Posted 2020

Found

From tight cocoon, a butterfly emerges
realizing she can't control her urges,
sexual beauty found within midnight moon
a butterfly emerges, from a dark cocoon.


Out from shadows, into daylight,
colors on her wings never shone so bright,
meant to be here, her brave heart knows,
she's into daylight, from dark shadows


Will sit alone no more, hidden in her room,
no more sadness, darkness nor gloom
She finally found herself, on her own,
back in her room, she'll no more sit alone.

Copyright © Tanya Campos-Gracia | Year Posted 2024

Reconciled

RECONCILED

I’ve stumbled in my walk with You
Grumbled when I’ve talked to You,
Ambled steps away from You,
Humbled, now I pray to You.

Jesus! 
I don’t deserve Your grace!
Hard to look upon Your face,
Knowing what You’ve done to erase
The black from my heart.
Jesus!
I don’t deserve Your love!
These unearned blessings from above,
God touched you with His pure white dove
So we’d know You are His heart.

I’ve walked away when You’ve come through,
I balked away the Bible’s truth,
Ignored the seeds You’d sown in me,
Got tossed around a violent sea - 

Forgive me, Lord, please set me free!

So right now I come to You,
On my knees to worship You!
Cause through Your blood I’m made anew,
All my life I’ll strive for You!

Thank You, Lord, I feel Your hand, 
Upon my life, in Your command.
I will do what You demand:
Follow your Word, pursue Your plan.

Help me, Father, the rest of the way,
You are the sculptor, I am the clay,
Form me into what You will
Help me know You! Increase my fill!

Jesus! 
I praise You for Your grace!
I can look upon Your face,
Knowing Your power has erased
The soot from my heart.
Jesus!
I stand in awe of Your love!
Tilt my face to you above, 
And know when push comes to shove
You live in my heart.

And in these days as I grow old,
It’s Your Word that takes ahold,
Inside my heart, inside my soul,
Your promises have made me whole.

So when I see You on that day,
I’ll know it’s You, Lord, I’ll know the way,
I’ve heard Your voice, I am Your child,
Finally come to You, reconciled.



Suzanne L. Arbil
April 2019
Walnut Creek, CA

Copyright © Suzanne Arbil | Year Posted 2023

The Equation of You

You are space, not particles,
An echo of light in a body of bone,
Vibrating between stars,
Where distance is measured in thought,
And power is a balance of hearts.

You—yes, you—are Energy (E)
Energy and happiness folded into form (a),
Your mass (m) drawn from bread, breath,
And dreams built from bricks of stardust.
The universe echoes in your chest
As you calculate your way through life.

Your fellow man, a mirror in space,
Carrying his own energy and happiness, 
folded into form (b),
Tangled with yours in the delicate dance
Of shared existence (a/b),
A ratio of power, a glimpse of infinity
Where your soul meets his.

The distance between you and him (r) is not just space—
It’s thought, it’s memory, it’s love unspoken,
Measured in lightyears of silence and smiles.
And the distance between you, the stretch between your eyes and his,
Is the same as the distance between stars
Colliding in a cosmic ballet
Where every step takes a billion years.

The rest of your life (R), the ticking clock of your life,
Winding down but not out.
It is the number of years left
Before you dissolve back into the song
From which you came,
Rejoining the origin of all things, the seed of the universe
Born in the blaze before time.

You think you’re matter,
But it’s the space between your atoms that sings,
Your body will crumble into dust,
But the space that is you
Will float on, between stars, laughing with light,
Leaving your smile on the lips of the universe.

So, you are not just here, you are forever.
You, the force that moves mountains of mind,
You will continue, my friend.
Meet me there, beyond time,
Where the stars pause to hear your name.
Peace and love. E=mc^2/(1+((r(a/b))/R))^2

Copyright © Stein Sivertsen | Year Posted 2024

Your Kiss From Heaven

Your kiss from heaven caressed my cheek.
It made me feel safe, yet a little weak!

Confusing thoughts ran through my head.
Is this for real, or just misread? 

With the Risen Son, they claim I’m new!
But in my mind, I cannot construe!

I’m not standing on a small hill.
I’m still climbing, I just can’t be still.

That little hill became a mountain.
In my heart I cry out, shout’in!

“If the Risen Son has made me new:
Then why am I so sad and blue?

In the dawn of day, I just can’t see.
The dark of night won’t let me be!

This parched ground makes me athirst.
From whence will water be dispersed"?

With the Risen Son, newness falls!
And with it profound wisdom calls!

Your kiss from heaven is slowly fading.
In my mind, Satan is indeed raiding!

Oh my goodness what can I do?
I think I heard, spend time with you?

I just don’t have much more to lose.
I guess my bible I will use!

Many years, have since passed by.
But that kiss, still makes me sigh!

O’ that kiss, that touched my cheek:
Made me strong and not weak!

Because of it, inspiration grew! 
With the Risen Son, can I be new?

I know from heaven your kiss came.
And with it, you took all my shame!

I gave nothing in return
 Yet, for my heart, you did yearn!

In the Risen Son, I believe I’m new!
Could this really be my point of view?

Yes Yeshua, you have made me new!
Your kiss from heaven pulled me through!

You gave me strength within my soul.
In my life, I give you control!

I am now your devoted wife!
Jehovah, your kiss changed my life!

                                                                                                                                        Stacey Brown
                                                                                                                                            9-11-2013

Copyright © Stacey Brown | Year Posted 2013

My Truths

From today onwards, I have the right to write my own life
I don’t want my future to be shaped by the opinions of others anymore
 I will reject anything I don’t want 
and I refuse to be gaslit as I have been before
I hate prejudice and injustice 
and refuse to sacrifice my needs for others 
who wouldn’t give anything in return
 I have the right to be happy
I have the right to get what I want 
I have the right to make the people I love happy
and I will pursue this mindset forever
In my life, I am the director
the main actor
and from now on, the scriptwriter
I won’t let others change my fate, I will be me, and I will be free!

Copyright © Shreya Hiremath | Year Posted 2024

Summertime

Sitting in the shade of a mango tree
Under ripe and full fragrant fruits 
Mellow breezes willow and gentle 
Make the skirts on the line scuttle 
Every soul in the forest is alive in glee
Rifling leaves fall onto the grassy ground 
The sun is brilliant gaily shinning on smiling faces 
Inside the shade taking in cool fragrant wind
My body lay in the grassy field gently 
Entering stasis in the ambience of the gods

Copyright © Shiku Kariuki | Year Posted 2024

I Choose Life

The way you love me is toxin
Your existence is haphazard
You grip me like I am your only option
Penetrating my heart like a blizzard
Chasing you is my destruction
Receiving your pleasure is poison
Being without you, I thought I couldn’t
Peace over chaos is what I am choosing!

Copyright © Sherry Beck | Year Posted 2016

Beacon Street Blues

What sort of homeless person would I be
Would I cart all these books everywhere with me
Would I scream and shout to keep the world at bay
Or would I nod and smile by my tin cup each day
Would I dress real well, try to look like a swell
Or would I let myself go, not put on a show
Would I turn to drugs or would I stick with booze
What would I have to lose
Would I rant and rave about equality
And how you look right through me
Or would I understand -
you need to keep what you’ve got
You don’t want to land in this spot
Would I have any hope, would there be any rope
Gone are the jobs that kept the unlucky on track
Now the squirrels are on crack, the humans on smack
The armpit of L.A. gets hairier by the day

Copyright © Sharon Keely | Year Posted 2020

What We Seek

Asymmetry is
a plump wren perched
on a thin branch
contemplating
a ripe strawberry
stilled on a table

In its serene
pose does
the wren feel
ripeness or see
the redness or
is the setting
just a pas de deux
for one

Copyright © Sara Robinson | Year Posted 2016

The Call

The call
 
Though you may be with sins so extreme
You’ve revelled till you’re out of steam
So indulgent, your inner voice lost its scream
Beyond redemption, you now would seem
Call on Him, your soul to redeem
And He’ll come to you, maybe in your dream
He is the light with the brightest beam
To guide you through the darkness to life’s full stream
Assuage your thirst and restore self esteem
Don you an armor to join His team
That some lost souls you may also redeem
And fulfill His grand salvation scheme

Copyright © Sandison Jumbo | Year Posted 2016

Wake In Mourning

First thought when I wake up,
Is how much I miss you,
I think of the light in your eyes,
Your beautiful smile too,

Your infectious laughs,
The dreams I had for you,
The goals you made,
And the ones you pushed me to do,

Your pure heart,
How some days you pushed through,
Still always lifting others,
I'm so proud of you,

I miss your hugs,
Your kisses and stories too,
I never thought this life,
Would provide so few,

Sometimes I pick up my phone,
To call or text you,
Tell you something funny, 
Or just ask what's new,

But then I remember,
What I wish wasn't true, 
You're no longer on this earth, 
I no longer have you,

How do I face each day, 
I haven't got a clue,
How can the world go on,
It doesn't make sense without you, 

I don't want to face another night,
Or wake to another morning dew,
Not unless this universe,
Gives me back you.

Copyright © Samantha Van Norman | Year Posted 2024

You Always Loved Fireworks

You always loved fireworks
By post script

A thunderous crack and bang right before lights of red, white, and blue lit up the sky.

So beautiful it brings a tear to my eye, and as it hits the ground it questions why.

You said you could watch fireworks all night, never wanting to say bye.

Beautiful lights that made the night seem like daytime but this was an oil painted sky. 

Lights reminiscent of a great work of art making one have a greater appreciation for the who, what, where, when, and why’s.

That night we shot one extra for you, metaphorically the last good bye.

P.S. I’ll never forget the day you saw your first fireworks show, rest in peace my son. Now you’re watching fireworks in heaven so I know there is no need to cry.  


6/9/16

Copyright © Roses Roses | Year Posted 2016



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